Hi Evereyone, NEED HELP!, My battery is always flat after 3 days of car standing. must be a drainage somewhere. New battery, charged of of car, put back on & 3 days later its flat, where do I start to locate the problem please. V70,2.5T auto 97Thanks Bazk

 

alternator might be doing a parasitic draw while off, happened to me.

 

Are you driving the car after your charge it?

 

re "parasitic alternator" whats best to determine? disconnect alternator when not using car?
Yes, once I've started the car using either jump leads or charging battery in workshop, I then do whatever I was going to do

 

Your post is a little confusing.


You charge the battery and drive the car off and on for 3 days and the battery is always dead at the end of 3 days?


or


You charge the battery, drive the car around, park the car for 3 days and the battery is dead at the end of the 3 days?


The former is an alternator issue
The latter is a battery issue or a parasitic drain on the battery


How many miles on the car? 97

 

Link: https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...g-101-a-42655/

 

+1; Bingo!

Diagnose the problem; don't guess.

 

Hi Everyone, thanks for the help, sorry if my post was confusing, just to clarify. If I leave the car for 3 days & then try to start it, battery is dead. If I then charge the battery or start the car with jump leads, everything is fine, car starts, runs ok,& I can use it without a problem. Then I go off to work in the van for 3 days, come home & car battery is dead.
Seems like this parasitic drain, I'll try to get hold of a load tester & go from there. The car has done 240,000kms, looks like the original alternator. Also thanks for the step by step! I'll try it

 

You don't need to get a load tester.

Always test the battery first. It's the easiest thing to do. Pull it, take it to a parts place. They will load test it for free for you. Takes 1 hour. (Make sure you have the radio code before pullinghte battery).

After that, all you need is a multi-meter. Follow the video, it's very good.

 

BAZK: Did you read Boxpin's thread?

Was it the trunk lite switched ON, or the glove box lite?

 

Hi, Goodish news, the faulty circuit has been located, just got to pin the actual fault down. Turns out it is the central locking cct. Thought I would leave the fuse out until I could find the problem, only thing is, I can't start the car with the fuse out! Seems the central locking cct is linked to alarm/immobiliser cct. Any thoughts welcome;
I'll keep plodding on
BAZK sw France

 

That circuit should draw some current but should be on the order of 50 mA (0.050 amps) or less. How much is that circuit drawing? If it's significantly more than that you may have a door switch hanging in the open position (or some other fault).

 

the cct is drawing .6amps ??

 

That's 600 mA; most definitely excessive if all doors are shut and key off. See my previous post (#12 in this thread).

 

Update! Have taken the drivers side door panel off & disconnected the 2 plugs on the locking mechanism, reading now at .02amp. Had to stop now; its getting too dark!

 

There you go! See, my guess in post #10 was incorrect; sometimes you just have to diagnose the problem...

So let me guess (again); bet your interior light switch setting, where the lights go on/off when you open/shut the door(s), didn't work, yes?

Oh yeah, and at 0.02A (20 mA) you battery now won't be dead in 3 days. Maybe 3 or 4 weeks, but not 3 days.

 

Oh Dear ! The problem has gone! Checked the draw first thing this morning(0.02a) with all of the drivers door switches and door panel switches disconnected. In turn I put the connectors back on and then checked the reading each time. After every connect & check, the draw started out at .75a and once the int lights went out it settled done to 0.02a.I've done the whole connect & disconnect of all door fitments twice and the fault hasn't come back And that is where it is now. So looks like "keep a spare charged battery & jump leads in the car" & wait for next time!!
BazK, very mild sw France.

 

There's a micro-switch in each door latch assembly that tells the interior ecu if any of the doors are open. My guess (here we go again..) is that the one on the driver door is sticking ON sometimes (based on your info from post #15).

 

Hi
You are right!! one of the door switches was stuck on. It was the one that operates when you use the key rather than the remote.
Thanks for all your help
Baz K still in a very mild sw france